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Salad

French Dressing

A vinaigrette dressing made with oil, tarragon vinegar, salt, paprika, and black pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,399 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

French Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Combine the oil, salt, paprika, and black pepper in a bowl and mix thoroughly.

  2. Add the tarragon vinegar drop by drop while stirring vigorously.

Rest

  1. Let the mixture sit for about 20 minutes before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Tarragon + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Oil
Forms the fat base that carries the flavour and gives the dressing body.
Tarragon vinegar
Adds the sharp acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the oil.

The step that matters

Add the vinegar drop by drop while stirring vigorously. Oil and vinegar separate quickly. Adding the vinegar slowly while whisking breaks it into tiny droplets spread through the oil, creating a temporary emulsion that stays blended longer and tastes smoother.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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